A water cooled vehicular internal combustion engine typically requires a radiator to dissipate heat produced by the internal combustion engine. Additionally, a vehicular air conditioning system requires a condenser, which is positioned in front of the radiator and is operable to cool refrigerant contained therein. The internal combustion engine may include a supercharger to provide pressurized air, or boost, to the internal combustion engine thereby increasing the volumetric efficiency thereof. An intercooler radiator may be provided in front of the condenser to cool the intercooler liquid, which in turn cools the intake air prior to communication to the internal combustion engine. By cooling the intake air, increases in intake air density and greater spark advance are made possible, which typically equate to improved engine performance and efficiency.
Vehicle designers typically compromise the size of the intercooler radiator due to the fixed nature of the air flow path through the three heat exchangers (intercooler radiator, condenser, and radiator). In other words, to maintain acceptable engine cooling performance and air conditioner performance, the frontal area of the intercooler radiator is sized substantially smaller than the frontal area of the condenser and radiator. This results in acceptable air flow to the radiator and condenser at low vehicle speeds, such as when operating the vehicle in city traffic. This arrangement does, however, reduce the effectiveness of the intercooler radiator when operating the internal combustion engine, and the vehicle so equipped, in a high performance aggressive driving schedule. For example, at high vehicle speeds, typical of high boost operation, the intercooler radiator could be larger, perhaps even as large as the condenser, and not negatively impact the performance of the air conditioning system since the added restriction of the larger intercooler radiator would not be a concern due to the overall “ram air” effect present at high vehicle speeds. However, such a configuration may be unacceptable at low vehicle speeds due to the increased restriction of the larger intercooler radiator causing a reduction in air flow through the condenser and radiator.